Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The Director of the International Institute of Central Asia (MICA) held a meeting with the head of the South Korean diplomatic mission in Uzbekistan, Kim Hee Sang, to discuss further prospects of interaction.

At the beginning of the conversation, the ambassador noted that thanks to the efforts of the head of state, Uzbek-Korean relations have reached an unprecedented upsurge, and cooperation in various fields continues to yield fruitful results.

Today, Tashkent and Seoul are building a mutually beneficial partnership, giving priority to strengthening dialogue at the highest level as an important condition for expanding interstate cooperation.

Over the past year alone, the Presidents of the two countries met in New York, and six Korean ministers visited Tashkent, including the ministers of foreign affairs, economy and defence. Foreign Ministers met three times in Tashkent, Dushanbe and Seoul.

The two sides noted that over the years of cooperation, Uzbekistan and South Korea have ensured progressive development of bilateral ties and achieved high dynamics of deepening multifaceted cooperation.

More than 180,000 ethnic Koreans live in Uzbekistan, making the country the largest in Central Asia and the fifth largest Korean diaspora in the world.

Uzbekistan is South Korea’s key trading partner in Central Asia with trade turnover reaching US$2.34bn last year.

The conversation also highlighted the special significance of the C5+ format for Korea, as Central Asia plays a high geopolitical significance for the country. The Republic of Korea was the first among all countries to put forward the "C5+Republic of Korea" platform back in 2007, expanding its multilateral ties in the region.

At the 16th Republic of Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum, it was decided to establish the Korea-Central Asia Forum of Think Tanks, highlighting the importance of research institutions in further enhancing cooperation between the countries. The first forum will be held this year in the Republic of Korea. Uzbekistan will be represented by experts from the International Institute of Central Asia.

At the end of the meeting, Kim Hee Sang noted the importance of increasing cooperation between the expert and analytical community of Central Asian countries, stating his readiness to promote further strengthening of cooperation between MICA and leading agencies and think tanks in Korea.